Day of the Revolution Manga, Volume 1 (English)

October 8th, 2008

How fitting that today, the Day of the Revolution, we start with a hero. Today’s review was sponsored by Martin S from Austria – thank you very much Martin. You are today’s hero! ^_^

Day of the Revolution tells the story of Yoshikawa Kei, a little punk-ass boy who is respected by his punk-ass friends and kind of idolized by them as well, since he’s kind of cute and girly. Kei learns that he is actually Intersexed. Because of a complicated family situation, he chooses to become a girl, rather than continue on as a boy. Hilarity ensues. Kei, now known as Megumi, finds it just about impossible to hide her identity from her former pals, which was a relief, since an extended series of gags while she attempted to do so would have been dire. ^_^

Tsuda Mikiyo, who also draws under the name Zaou Taishi, has a number of strongly gender-bendy and fakey Yaoi and Yuri titles under this name. Previously, I reviewed Family Complex, another series picked up by DMP. Originally, DMP announced Day as a Yuri title, but I and other folks wrote in to explain why it really isn’t. Nor is it truly a transgender story, but so few manga really are, when you think of it. So, once again, if you’re interested in MTF gender switching, this story could be of interest to you. In a way it is a sort of Intersexed story although, as with so many gender and sexuality stories, the larger issues of identity are subsumbed by inane details of gender roles. I cannot believe that the *most* important issue of someone transitioning from one sex to another is sitting with their legs closed. I just cannot.

Nonetheless, this is a reasonably amusing story. Much like Family Complex the fake BL and fake Yuri actually work in terms of the comedy. I don’t feel like the author is dissing or minimizing the issues, just that she’s writing a comedy and we should stay light hearted about it all.

The other feature of this book is the author’s extended author’s note. Tsuda is the only author I’ve ever read that draws herself as a human as well as some avatar character. And her author’s notes are detailed pieces of autobiography that give some actual insight into the woman behind the art. It’s refreshing and entertaining, a stark contrast to most of the other author’s notes I’ve read. (The worst two so far, “Recently I’ve developed an interest in hand lotion,” and “…who has started developing feeling for organutans.” I mean, really.)

At the end of the volume, Megumi, stressed out about the possibility of having to one day have sexual relations with a man after an aborted attempt at rape, chooses her friend and mentor as a woman, Makoto, to be her partner. This is what DMP assumed made it a Yuri story. It isn’t. Obviously they hadn’t read the second volume. But I had. ^_^

More gender-bendy goodness to come in Volume 2!

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7, 9 if you’re looking for Intersex stories that aren’t porn
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2ish, if you squint
Service – 5, a little for the BL fans, a little for the rest.

Overall – 7

I think I actually like Tsuda on her own more than with her BL manga partner Eiki Eiki. Sacrilege!

 

3 Responses

  1. jaymiemizuno says:

    Seeing as i like both Yuri and Gender-Bender titles, i really like Day of Revolution; i mean, this is the first manga i have read where the intersexed character was really intersexed, not the “Villainous Hermaphrodite” stereotype. And the comic used the real terms for being intersexed, a definite plus in my book as a booster of the GLBT community.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Sounds like just the thing for me. Thanks for the info. :)

  3. Anonymous says:

    Re: Zaou and Eiki, I’ve heard rumours of them being a couple. I’m kind of appalled this kind of gossip actually exists (don’t we have singers and actors to talk about already?), and the supposed evidence seems very slim (For one, they are reportedly living together. Two, one of their BL manga, Colors, is apparently based on their own story, genders reversed – never read it, so I don’t know). Still, I’d like to hear your judgement.

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